A United States federal appeals court This Friday he supported the law that could ban the social network TikTok in the countryalleging threats to national security due to the platform’s data collection.
The three judges of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia were in favor of the law approved by Congress in April, which forces TikTok to separate itself from its parent company in China, ByteDance, or it will be banned in the United States next January.
“The State acted solely to protect his freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to collect data about individuals in the United States,” the court stated.
Although the court recognized the implications that a possible ban could have for millions of users, He warned that if the platform does not comply with the requirements, it could not be available in the country “at least for a while.”
Specifically, federal law gave ByteDance nine months (until January 19) to find an investor from a country that is not considered an “adversary” of the United States to sell its operations in the North American nation. Otherwise, the application would have to stop operating in the country.
The social network faced the country in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to try to maintain its presence in the US market, where it has 170 million users. Now, the platform can appeal the Court’s opinion before the United States Supreme Court to try to stop the ban.
In fact, Both TikTok and the Department of Justice requested that this ruling be issued by December 6 so that the high court could consider any appeal before the veto took effect.
Donald Trump “would save TikTok in the US”
The Joe Biden Administration and congressmen from the Democratic and Republican parties They fear that the Chinese Government could obtain information about users in the United States from ByteDance and use their influence over American public opinion by manipulating what people see on the app.
The president has the power to extend the prohibition period up to three additional months if he certifies that the company is making progress. If not modified, the ban would take effect on his last day in the White Housesince the next day, the president-elect, Donald Trump, will be inaugurated.
The Republican, for his part, who tried to ban the platform during his first term (2017-2021), said, during the election campaign, that if he were the winner of the elections he would “save TikTok in the United States.”
